b'WOMENS INITIATIVESCOO Sector Update BY NIKITA DAYWomens InitiativesF irst Nations leadership hasIn order to guide this work, the long recognized the need tocouncil coordinated with the Assembly Sector promotesprovide more support forof First Nations (AFN) on a series of communities in their ongoingengagement sessions with survivors and safety andefforts to end violence, especially againstfamilies of missing and murdered loved women, girls and Two-Spirit people.ones, and in January of 2022, an online empowerment forThe Chiefs of Ontario (COO) Womensfamily gathering was held. Families and Initiatives Sector was established infront-line workers were able to speak on women and Two- 2021 to promote the safety and empow- a range of issues related to missing and erment of First Nations women, girlsmurdered loved ones and, more broadly, Spirit people and Two-Spirit folks in communitieson gender-based violence. We were only across Ontario. This work is carried outable to conduct that family gathering in a in conjunction with the First Nationsvirtual format [because of COVID-19], Womens Council, an advisory council tobut the positive benefit of doing it that the Chiefs-in-Assembly, with a gender- way was that we were able to engage based lens on the issues impactingin some conversations that might have communities across Ontario. actually been more difficult in person, We always recognize all theJohnson says. work thats being done within theThey talked about ways to support communities already, and we want tothe victims and those who have caused support that, says Nancy Johnson,harm, ways to support young people who director of the Womens Initiativesmight have witnessed violence, as well Sector. Were not a service deliveryas those who are Two-Spirit or gender-organization; we provide technicaldiverse. Most importantly, Johnson support to the leadership. Its aboutnotes, There was learning about the collecting information [and] sharinghistory of gender within First Nations information in order to support theprior to colonization, and then post-leadership in doing advocacy work.colonization and residential schools and 26l I ssue1 2024/25C hIefs ofo ntarIoA dvocAte magazIne'